I suppose it is not entirely surprising, since modern programming has drifted away from its most fundamental purpose -- processing data in a certain amount of space and time.

Look at common programming languages: the control of how much storage space is used is in the background, and the control of time taken is non-existent. The dominant, and almost only, concern is representational structure -- how the software is understandable and manipulable.

This is reasonable -- representation is important and comparatively valuable -- but the riches of modern hardware speed have brought a kind of decadence to programming.